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Summary
- Windows 10 support ends in 4 months, pushing users to upgrade to Windows 11; Linux users offer a free alternative.
- The Restart Project releases a toolkit to help communities transition from Windows 10 to open-source Linux.
- Efforts include "End of 10" services and "install parties" for Linux Mint to prevent PCs from becoming e-waste.
We're currently at an exciting time in the world of Windows users. Windows 10 falls out of support in four months' time, and we're seeing two sides try to win over the people who are still using Microsoft's older operating system. On one side, you have Microsoft, which would really prefer it if the hangers-on either upgraded to Windows 11 or purchased a new PC if their current hardware doesn't support the newest operating system. On the other side, you have the Linux community, which is tempting people with a free operating system change without the need to purchase new hardware.
Part of the latter camp includes The Restart Project, which is working hard at teaching people how to switch from Windows 10 to Linux. Now, it has released a toolkit to help communities embrace open-source operating systems instead of using Windows 11.
Related
Over on The Restart Project website, the group discusses why it's important for communities to get together and help people make the switch to Linux:
This October, Microsoft will make millions of people’s computers obsolete by ending support for Windows 10. Its successor, Windows 11, has unnecessarily strict requirements for what computers it will support.
A vast number of computers currently running Windows 10 will not meet these requirements. This leaves many millions of functional computers and their users entirely unsupported by Microsoft. Microsoft’s advice? Find yourself a new computer.But at Restart we believe that the end of Windows 10 should not mean the end-of-life of these computers. There are many ways to keep these computers running for years to come – stopping them from becoming e-waste and saving people money in the process.
Part of the toolkit involves asking repair groups to adopt an "End of 10" service, which deals with people who don't want to use an unsupported operating system but also don't want to scrap their perfectly good hardware to make the move to Windows 11. It also recommends people run "dedicated 'End of 10' parties," where people can turn up with their old PCs and take part in an "install party" for operating systems like Linux Mint.
In the face of Microsoft trying to convince people to throw out their old but perfectly good hardware, it's reassuring to see some people put up a fight and try to save as many PCs from hitting the landfill as possible. If you yourself have a Windows 10 PC and you want to stay supported without paying Microsoft or upgrading to Windows 11, why not give Linux a try? In fact, there's a Linux distro designed by an ex-Microsoft engineer that emulates the Windows experience very well.
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